The Start of Something New
by Team Mordsith 3
Summary: Following the Break Up (season 4), Kurt is single and hurting. He encounters the ruggedly handsome Ryan Evans at a party. How will Kurt juggle his feelings for his ex and the new man he keeps bumping into? Could this be more than a rebound?
1. Halloween Hookup

Rachel had been bustling through the apartment sighing loudly since she got home. She obviously wanted him to ask what was bothering her, but Kurt was not about to interact with her. She'd just try to convince him to go out with her again. He was perfectly content to sit here and wait for her to start her nagging and pleading without his assistance. And then she had turned off The Notebook in a bid for his attention. Instead, Kurt focused on spooning ice cream into his mouth.

"Honestly Kurt, it's our first Halloween in New York. Now, you have been moping around the apartment for weeks."

He looked up from the half-eaten pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish food, fully intending to tell Rachel off for the umpteenth and hopefully last time this week. Words failed him as he took in the Rachel Berry fashion before him: A fuzzy headband with rounded ears and a brown tail poking out from beneath a brown tube top trying to pass for a dress.

"Are you dressed as a slutty monkey?" he managed to say.

"Kurt!" she gasped, affronted. "I'm not just any slutty monkey." There was a knock as the door of the loft began to slide open. "And there's my Ted Shackleford now."

Brody entered the apartment with a big grin. Kurt didn't know where to look first. The tight, bright yellow boxer briefs, the large yellow boater hat, or the ridiculous yellow polka dotted tie on his bare frustratingly hairless chest.

A laugh forced its way out of his throat. "Oh my god. You're going out as Sex-Curious George and the Man in the yellow hat?" He managed to wheeze between laughs.

"It's cute." Rachel insisted. "Kurt, you have to come with us. Go put on your costume. Right now. Go!"

"Rachel," he protested as she dragged him off the couch, pushing him toward his room, "I don't have a costume."

Rachel shushed him. "Now go in your room and don't come out until you're ready to party." She pulled the curtain shut behind him.

Kurt sighed and stomped over to his closet. Plenty of things in his wardrobe could pass for a costume, but he wasn't in the mood for something bondage chic. Or anything really. A crumpled-up t shirt on the bottom of the closet caught his eye and inspiration struck. He shimmied into a pair of dark skinny jeans, pulled the wrinkled tee over his head, and slid on a red button down.

"Rachel?" he called tentatively.

"Uh uh. Don't even think about coming out here without a costume on." she said from just beyond the curtain.

"Do you still have Finn's Brad glasses?"

After a pause, she responded. "I'll get them."

Barely any time had passed before her hand pushed through the curtain and into his room. He took the black frames and put them into place before stepping out of the curtain.

"Well, what do you think?"

Brody inclined his head at the costume choice as Rachel squealed her approval and clapped her hands.

"Our first New York Halloween!" she said, "Let's go!"

 **X**

Kurt leisurely sipped his coke from his spot at the bar. It had only taken Rachel twenty minutes to leave him all alone. At least she was having a good time, he thought bitterly. He took the thick black frames off his nose and set them on the table, putting his head in his hands.

"Taking off the glasses kind of ruins the disguise, doncha think?"

Kurt turned to see who had spoken. Standing behind him was a gorgeous blond in a grass skirt. A hula dancer, perhaps? "Looks like my cover's blown." He said, inwardly applauding himself on his quick and cool response.

He sat in the empty chair beside Kurt. "Was this seat taken?"

Kurt shook his head, trying to avoid the blond's green-eyed gaze. "All yours."

"I was over there on the dance floor and I could help but notice you sitting here."

"Really?" Kurt breathed, hoping against hope he wasn't blushing.

"Yeah. You looked like you'd rather be anywhere but here." He leaned in closer, "What gives?"

"Oh." Kurt forced his facial muscles not to show his disappointment. "My roommate dragged me out and abandoned me at a club where nobody knows me," he explained.

A brilliantly white smile spread across his face. "What's your name?"

"Kurt." He answered far too quickly.

"Well, Kurt, now someone in this bar knows you. Let me get you another drink." He motioned for the bartender to bring two more drinks.

"You have a name, Lilo?"

He chuckled, and the sound made Kurt weak at his knees. "Ryan Evans. And to be clear, I'm a tiki warrior." He cupped his right hand around his mouth and whispered, "I couldn't really pull off the cute Polynesian hula dancer look."

"It's very…sequined for a tiki warrior." He said, brushing his hands along the belt of the hula skirt.

The man laughed. "You should have seen the original."

"You altered it yourself?" Kurt asked, allowing himself to examine the costume in its entirety. It really was gorgeous, if not suitable for a tiki warrior.

"I've had it since high school. Long story. This costume started as a joke, but I've been altering it slightly every year."

Kurt took a few sips of his drink and searched the dance floor for Rachel and Brody. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, just above his yellow boxers as they spun around. How could she look this happy so soon after the disaster that was Grease?

"Is there a Louis or Lois Lane in the picture?" Ryan asked breaking him out of his musing.

"Louis, but no. I'm single." He took a deep breath and went for it. "Is there some sort of tiki warrior prince?"

Kurt wasn't sure what it was about this man that inspired him to be so forward. It looked like Kurt may just end up taking Santana's break-up advice after all.

"Just me." Ryan took a sip of his drink. "So, what are your plans for the rest of the night? Anything exciting?"

"Definitely. I'm hoping to get leid." Kurt said, pawing at the lei as suggestively as he could.

Ryan gulped down the remains of his drink and placed a twenty on the bar. "Wanna get out of here?"

Kurt slid his hand into the crook of Ryan's arm. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

A/N: This is a story that I've been wanting to write for a while. It began as a weird daydream and sort of spiraled into a story from there. I'll be updating whenever I find the motivation to complete a chapter. Thanks for reading!


	2. The Morning After

… _you call me, I love you. Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh, we called it off again last night. But ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh, this time I'm telling you, I'm telling you…_

Kurt shot upright in bed, the soft grey sheets pooling at his waist, as the extremely loud volume of the top 40 station forced him into consciousness. He looked around the room trying to identify the source of the music. Luckily, Ryan's head appeared in the doorway as he turned off the radio before Taylor could get more than two words into the chorus.

"I guess I forgot to turn off my alarm," he apologized sheepishly, taking in Kurt's disgruntled appearance. "I thought I'd surprise you with breakfast when you woke up."

"You made me breakfast?" he asked, slightly shocked at the reversal to his typical role.

Ryan shook his head. "Still working on that. Though, as you're awake, I was thinking two egg white omelets with spinach, mushrooms, and green peppers with feta cheese. Any objections?"

"That sounds perfect. Can I help?" Kurt asked, pulling on the jeans he'd worn the night before.

Ryan smiled. "Sure."

He hadn't noticed it last night, but the kitchen was just as gorgeous as the bedroom. The open concept of the condo helped the small kitchen alcove to feel more spacious than it would had there been a wall separating the kitchen from the living room. Matching bright red small kitchen appliances stood out boldly against the white marble counter top of the island. And the large appliances on the wall opposite blended in with the cabinets. Ryan handed him a red silicone whisk.

"Can you crack the eggs while I cut up the vegetables?" he asked.

Kurt made quick work of the eggs on the counter. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Ryan's surprised smile. He seemed to find that rather impressive. Kurt was suddenly grateful for learning how to crack them one handed when he was younger. Soon enough, the preparation was over which meant it was time to cook the eggs and Ryan retrieved an unsurprisingly red spatula from the drawer in the island.

"We work well together." Ryan said with a wink, flipping the omelet.

"Yeah, and we're pretty good at cooking together, too."

 **X**

For the fifth time, Kurt smoothed his outfit. This was ridiculous. He didn't need to stand there outside of his own apartment working up the nerve to go inside. He took a deep breath and pulled open the door.

Rachel spun around from where she was seated at the table. "Kurt. Where were you?" she shrieked, not giving him time to answer. "We were worried sick. I mean, we left early so I wasn't worried _all_ night, but when you still weren't here when I woke up…"

"Rachel, I left before you." He corrected her gently.

As if roused by his return – or more likely the banshee-like interrogation techniques of his girlfriend – Brody came out of the bedroom, thankfully wearing a pair of black sweatpants. "Hey Kurt, how was your first New York walk of shame?"

Rachel gasped and elbowed him in the ribs. "He didn't take a walk of shame," she hissed.

"You're right, Rachel. He drove me home."

Rachel's face was turning an unhealthy shade of red. "So you just went home with some random guy you met on Halloween in New York City and then, to top it all off, you gave him our address?"

"Of course not," he assured her. "I had him drop me off at the nice apartment complex a few blocks away."

This did not appear to have calmed her. "What, so now you're ashamed of us? Of this place?"

"Rachel, what do you want me to say?" he asked, "Can you honestly tell me you'd even look twice at this apartment without condemning it if we didn't actually live here?"

She sputtered in indignation but said nothing further on the topic.

"I just didn't want him to think differently about me when he saw where I lived." Kurt said gently.

"That means that he had a nice place." Brody said, looking up from his bowl of cheerios.

"He has a small condo in Clinton Hill. It's quaint, but so very nice. But that's because he's older than us." Kurt added for Rachel's benefit.

Rachel found her voice. "How much older?" she asked, sounding vaguely scandalized.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I don't know, Rachel. I didn't exactly ask to see his birth certificate. That's not really my idea of foreplay."

"C'mon, Kurt," Brody interjected, "You must have some idea."

"He's a college graduate, so he's at least 22. I didn't see the year on his diploma." Kurt admitted.

"Oh? Where did he go? Was he a Public _Affairs_ major at _One Night Stand_ -ford University?"

It was comforting to know that the New York makeover had not improved Rachel's sense of humor in the slightest. But he knew there was no need to dignify her play on words with any sort of comeback. The truth would be just as effective.

"Actually, he went to Julliard." He said, "I'm going to bed. We didn't waste a lot of time sleeping, so try and keep it down please."

He retreated quickly waiting for either the explosion or change of heart that would likely follow. Surely enough, he heard Rachel contemplating the minutiae with Brody through the curtain.

"Julliard? I bet he was pretty dreamy." She whispered.

* * *

A/N: I know it's a short chapter, but I wanted to get something posted. Thank you to everyone that followed and favorited, and sorry for the long wait. Hopefully I'll update this story more frequently. Reviews help with the process. But, I promise the next chapter will be longer than this one.


	3. Moving Forward

It had been 49 days – not that Kurt was counting – since Blaine had arrived unannounced on his doorstep with a bouquet of beautiful roses and a devastating declaration of infidelity. Kurt had taken his mourning period and eaten much too much ice cream while torturing himself with romantic movies. Aside from Halloween night, life had pretty much gone back to the way it was before. It had taken some time, but Rachel had finally stopped asking when he was planning to see his "Halloween Hottie" again, and accepted it for what it had been: a one-night stand to help him get over Blaine.

And now everything was back to normal. Which, in and of itself, wasn't bad. Kurt liked the life he had made for himself in New York, but every so often something would make him think about Blaine and, of course, the cheating. And that brought up the hurt and disgust he'd been burying under Ambien and so-called normality. Today, it was a bouquet of flowers that had been delivered to his desk. Begonias, daffodils, and freesias. It was a decidedly odd arrangement, and Kurt didn't care for it.

He immediately regretted suggesting that Blaine should buy a book on flower meanings. He had, quite spitefully, told Blaine that his choice to send yellow and red roses wasn't quite on message with his apology card. And in doing so, apparently Kurt had created an obsession or desire in Blaine to express himself through flowers. And these ones were a doozy.

The begonias were most likely in recognition of a difficult problem he was working through. Which would be the aftermath of their relationship. The daffodils, obviously, were a reminder of their lasting friendship, and the freesias offering a burst of energy to help with the problem referenced by the begonias. At least this one didn't have a card with a drawing of another man in the doghouse or begging for forgiveness. Those were getting old. He knocked the flowers, non-descript glass vase and all, into the trashcan beside his desk. Today was another day. He'd get through it, hopefully with less thoughts of Blaine than the day before.

 **X**

Kurt was awakened – yet again – by Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. Blaine was calling. He had to change that ringtone. If he was smarter, he'd block Blaine's number. His phone dinged to notify him of a voicemail. Kurt squeezed his eyes closed and listened to the sound of the early morning New York commute. It was surprising how quickly the noise of the city had become as calming as the tranquility Ohio offered. He could hear Rachel and Brody stirring across the apartment. At least he hoped that's what they were doing this early in the morning. Kurt's eyes flew open as Teenage Dream played yet again.

Before he could think better of it, he snatched the phone from his bedside table, yanking the charger from the outlet as he did so, and answered it for the first time. "What?" he hissed.

"Kurt. Hi, did I wake you?" Blaine asked softly.

"You woke me up with your first phone call of the day." Kurt responded, "What do you want?"

"Right, okay. I heard what you said at Grease, about not trusting me anymore. And I get it. I'm really, really sorry Kurt. You don't even know how sorry I am. I can't sleep or focus on anything other than how much I've hurt you - about what's happened to us. But I think if you'd just give me a chance to explain – "

"I don't want you to explain why you cheated on me." Kurt snarled, desperate to cut off Blaine's frenzied rambling. "I answered the phone for one reason."

"You didn't want your voicemail to get all cluttered?" he guessed.

"Blaine. Please stop calling me to say you're sorry."

"Okay. I'm sorry. I mean, I will." Blaine stammered. "I just wanted you to know that I feel terrible about everything."

Kurt sighed heavily, steeling himself. This was how it had to be. "I want you to stop calling me. And texting me. What's done is done, Blaine. Let it go."

He heard Blaine inhale shakily, and ended the call before he lost his nerve. It was done.

 **X**

On day 52 AB (After Breakup), Kurt received a Gilmore Girls DVD boxed set from Blaine. He decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, mostly because he didn't want to believe that Blaine had deliberately disregarded his wishes. Perhaps it had been mailed before the phone call where Kurt cut off all contact between them. He took the package to the mail room and repackaged it with a return to sender sticker on top. Just in time for Jerry to take the rest of the outgoing mail. He'd just returned to his desk when Chase knocked on the doorway.

"Hey, so I know you've had a rough couple of weeks, so I took everyone's coffee orders for you." He said, waving a cluttered yellow post-it note in his hand. "Unfortunately, I can't actually go and get them, because I have a meeting with Antonia and then Isabelle wants me to redo the culotte piece in the Hot-or-Not article. But, I tried."

Kurt smiled weakly. "Thank you. I'll go get them and be back in time for the staff meeting in 20 minutes."

"I'll let Isabelle know." Chase called over his shoulder as headed for the conference room.

On the walk to the coffee shop Kurt tried to focus his mind on the present. He allowed himself enjoy the crisp autumn air and the novelty of the city he had dreamed about since he was young. He had more success than he'd hoped. Maybe he was finally moving on.

The Starbucks he usually stopped at was crowded, so he kept walking until he arrived at the next one. It was significantly less crowded. Nonetheless, he felt bad for the barista when he handed her his post-it note. He so did not miss working at the Lima Bean. Kurt squeezed ten coffees for the staff into two drink carriers and headed for the door. He was more than halfway there before he realized he couldn't pull the door open without his hands. He turned around to ask the barista for a bag to place one of the carriers into, and almost ran right into a tall blond man in a navy blue blazer and tan slacks.

It was his Halloween hookup. And he cleaned up very nicely.

"Easy there, Superman." Ryan jested, "Let me help you with that."

Kurt readjusted his grip and moved the carrier out of Ryan's grasp. "No, no. I got it."

"Okay." Ryan acquiesced, his hands raised in surrender. "Where are you going with all those coffees? Do you have a homemade caffeine IV drip set up somewhere?"

"Ugh, I wish." Kurt said. "I'm an intern for Vogue dot com."

"Wow. That's impressive, Kurt."

"Thank you." He said, surprised that Ryan remembered his name.

"Any chance you have a little time to drink some coffee yourself? With me, maybe?"

"Umm…yeah. I have a little time." Kurt agreed. Today was about moving on, and what better way to do it than an impromptu coffee date? Isabelle would understand. She always did. "Let me just text my boss." He sent her a quick message before he tried to put his phone in his pocket, but Ryan stopped him.

"Actually, before you put that away, I was hoping I could give you something you forgot when you left my place after Halloween?"

Kurt smiled wryly and navigated to the add new contacts screen before handing his phone to Ryan. "Go ahead."

Getting Ryan's number was very on theme with today. Not to mention, quite an ego boost.

"So, Kurt, tell me more about this internship." Ryan implored as they sat at a nearby table. "What's it like working at The Vogue dot com?"

* * *

A/N: I have to type Vogue dot com, because otherwise it eliminates it as a link. I kept my promise. This chapter is longer than the last two were. I have no excuse for the wait, especially since this chapter has been written for months. All I can say is don't hold your breath waiting for the next update. It could be next week or next year. But I do have the plot mapped out and notes made for future chapters. Hope this lived up to your expectations. Let me know what you think.


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